During 2014, Bangladesh agreed to take part in pilot activities for FAO’s new work on sustainable food and agriculture (SFA) methods.  A senior delegation from FAO headquarter (HQ) and Regional Office (RAP), led by Dr. Shivaji Pandey, former Director, Plant Production and Protection Division visited Lalmonirhat and Dinajpur districts in Northern Bangladesh on 7-10 May 2015.  The work also links to a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project “Smart farms: Integrated Climate Smart Agriculture in Northern Bangladesh” which is currently under development.

The multi-disciplinary team included agronomists, a water and irrigation specialist, fisheries and forestry experts, and was joined by the FAOR, Mike Robson.  The purpose of the mission was to gather some preliminary first-hand knowledge on existing agricultural practices, and challenges, direct from farmers; and to engage in dialogue with local government officials to raise awareness and interests among the stakeholders towards a more integrated methodology as suggested by a sustainable food and agriculture (SFA) approach.  

The 4-day long scoping visit to around 15 villages across the two districts, included meetings with project staff from the National Agricultural Technology Programme (NATP) and the Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP); with local representatives of Barind Multipurpose Development Agency (BMDA), Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and the Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI); and with officials from local line departments.  Following the field trip, discussions were also held in the Department of the Environment with high-level government officers - from both technical departments and research - in Dhaka, as well as meetings with international researchers from World Fish and IRRI.

In the field, the team observed the high quality of the standing crop at this time (mostly maize in the area visited), and noted that remarkable progress has been made over the past 25 years thanks to irrigation, the use of fertilisers and of high yielding varieties.  Cropping intensity in the two districts is around 230%, which is above the national average. 

Discussions with farmers revealed a keen interest in pre-paid water metering to reduce costs of irrigation, in association with a buried pipe system (not all areas have access to this technology, which originated in China and is in use by BMDA).  However, in addition, farmers and officials complained about soil acidity, low organic matter and the first signs of reduced response of the crop to fertiliser. Overall, this latter observation is possibly a significant concern – other countries which have adopted such a pathway to intensification have tended to experience such problems.  If this situation is becoming widespread, measures should be taken to address it before it gets out of hand. Examples were shown of green manure, farmyard manure, vermicompost and conservation agriculture (with reduced/strip tillage), all of which should contribute to improved soil health and fertility.  So far these technologies, although demonstrated, do not seem to have been widely adopted.  The reasons for this were debated by officials and the team. 

As follow up from the visit, FAO has proposed some local survey work be carried out under the SFA pilot, to be undertaken by SRDI and the local universities to determine the possible risk of soil fertility problems in coming seasons.  This work will also be a contribution towards Bangladesh celebrations of 2015: International Year of Soils.